Microwaves, Sponges and UF, oh my!

This is the front page of today’s Gainesville Sun. I’ve seen this tip going around the internet for a few days now, on Digg, BoingBoing and Lifehacker, among others.

The tip originates from a University of Florida press release on Monday which did not warn against nuking dry sponges or those with metal in them. The release appeared as an article in The Sun on Tuesday, followed up by today’s article warning against the dangers.

Lifehacker did mention the danger of fire in yesterday’s post, as did BoingBoing. The first article that appeared on Digg offered no warnings, but the second was a BBC news story about the risk of fire.

A search on Google News reveals 132 results.

The UF release has been updated since Monday.

Who should have caught this to begin with? An editor? A scientist? Maybe someone assumed that people would know not to put dry sponges or metal objects in the microwave. We know what happens when you make assumptions…

About

I'm looking for my next opportunity to solve user interface problems and make an impact. Currently, I'm teaching code to high school students with CodeNation (formerly ScriptEd) and I'm a contributor on a mobile canvassing app called Reach. Some of my projects are on GitHub. I blog about what I'm learning and random tidbits that catch my fancy. Contact me at mtaylor@megantaylor.org